


western hills

by jelly_spine



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, doyoung and jaehyun are horrible leaders but everyone loves them, mark is clumsy, really low-key jaeno, scout camp au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 01:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7914586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelly_spine/pseuds/jelly_spine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark’s lungs are full of dust, and infatuation towards a noisy boy from Jeju.</p>
            </blockquote>





	western hills

**Author's Note:**

> a small explanation of things:  
> \- this is set in a national camp, which means it's pretty damn big  
> \- scouts offer their left hand when they shake hands  
> \- leaders are 18 years old and older (at least in this)  
> \- a cub is a young scout boy/girl who is under ten years old  
> \- traditionally the friendship knot should be tied in your neckerchief by a friend, and you should never untie that knot in case undoing it "undoes" the friendship

The moon’s rays were like Cupid’s silver arrows; softly they landed on Mark’s skin, spiralling into his ears and from there to his startled heart.

The boy who had suddenly emerged from the nearest tent, hair mussed and shoelaces untied, sat down next to Mark. He appeared oblivious to the scare he had given Mark, bumping his thigh gently against the other boy’s.

“What’re you doing up this late?” asked the boy, his accent thicker than the night.

Mark looked at the boy’s heart-shaped smile. “Couldn’t sleep,” he answered quietly.

“Yeah, me neither,” the boy said, lowering his voice too, as if tuning his inner radio to the correct wavelength. He sat on the ground in the middle of a patch of silver light, hunched a bit forwards, his elbows on his knees.

Mark, in the shadow of the tent, observed the other boy from the corner of his eye, waiting for whatever the other teenager would say next. It didn’t take long before another question reached the boy’s lips, “Wanna go for a walk?”

“Sure,” Mark answered with a shrug. Both of them got up, brushing dust off their pants. The camp, consisting of a few sub-camps, was almost completely quiet. The murmur of voices could be heard here and there as the pair walked along paths between clusters of tents, dust rising at their heels. Some people walked in the opposite direction, chatting as quietly as they did.

“My name’s Donghyuck,” the boy said, holding out his left hand.

Mark offered his right hand, laughed in embarrassment, changed hands and shook Donghyuck’s, both of their palms slick and hot. “I’m Mark.”

“Are you half-American or something?” Donghyuck asked, tilting his head a bit.

“Oh, no, I just lived in Canada for a long time,” Mark explained and Donghyuck made a little understanding sound.

Mark thought it must have been at least three o’clock, feeling sleep weighing his eyelids down. Donghyuck leaned towards him, jostling his shoulder with his own playfully.

“You’re in the group from Jeju, aren’t you?” Mark asked, glancing at Donghyuck.

Donghyuck smiled and nodded. Mark didn’t look where he was going and accidentally stepped on his shoelaces, almost making him fall. Donghyuck recovered quickly, dismissing Mark’s apologies with a hand on the other teenager’s shoulder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck looked entirely different in bright daylight, his skin tanned by the sun instead of shadowed by the night, and his row of teeth white against his rosy lips and tongue. He possessed an unconventional kind of beauty, which Mark had failed to notice when their groups first arrived to the camp; during the first camp day Mark had stuck to his tent-mates Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung instead of mixing with the small-numbered but noisy bunch from Jeju.

“Hey,” Donghyuck greeted while they were making breakfast in their respective tent patrols, obviously fleeing from his cooking duties. “Did you get any sleep?”

Mark nodded a bit, peeking over Jeno’s shoulder to see how the scrambled eggs were coming along. He had been told to steer clear of everything related to cooking. “Yeah, eventually. You?”

Donghyuck chuckled. “Same.”

Jeno noticed there was a bit more food than the four of them needed, and Jaemin suggested Donghyuck go get his plate if he wanted some. When Donghyuck came back with his cutlery, Jeno gave the other boys scrambled eggs, and they passed around a tube of ketchup.

“Donghyuck,” a leader from Jeju called, coming up behind said boy and slapping both hands onto his shoulders. “Make me some breakfast, since you’re so good at cooking.”

Mark blinked at the leader’s suggestion as Donghyuck looked up, unimpressed. “What would I get in exchange?”

“You can wash my dishes.”

“Did you really think I would agree to a deal like that, Doyoung?” Donghyuck snorted, turning back to the other three boys, who had paused their eating to listen in on the conversation.

Doyoung didn’t even blink. “Will you make me food?”

“Hell no,” Donghyuck said, exchanging looks with Mark and rolling his eyes with a shake of his head. Doyoung shrugged, hardly affected by the rejection, and went off to find another teenager to make him food.

Mark laughed into his hand, eyebrows raising in amusement, and Jaemin announced Jisung would wash all their dishes. Jisung spluttered in horror. Donghyuck had some ketchup on his cheek and Mark accidentally hit him while trying to help him wipe it off.

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck’s inner radio was blaring teenage bops in the late afternoon, when everyone else was lazing around. Donghyuck made a few dance steps on his way to Mark. Mark chuckled at his little performance, leaning back on his hands.

Donghyuck put a hand onto Mark’s shoulder for support, and sat next to him. “Give me some water?”

Mark lowered his water bottle from his lips and handed it to Donghyuck, averting his attention from the boy next to him to a fly buzzing around his legs. Donghyuck toyed with the bottle after he was done, unscrewing the cap and putting it back on.

“Are you a ’99?” Mark asked, drawing patterns onto the ground with his finger.

“’00,” Donghyuck answered.

Mark looked up in mild surprise. “I thought you were my age.”

Donghyuck shrugged with a lazy smile. “We’re only a year apart, it’s not like I would have to bow every time I greet you.”

“Still.”

Donghyuck tapped his fingers against his thighs, humming out a tune. The fly flew away, but the two boys stayed.

 

 

 

 

 

After a late-night meal of instant noodles Mark went to sleep with his tent-mates, Jaemin asleep on Jeno and Jisung snuffling in his sleep. Mark was the only one awake, finding it a bit hard to breathe because of all the dust.

After about an hour of coughing the door flap of the tent was lifted slightly. “Mark?” Donghyuck whispered, and Mark sat up immediately.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go for a walk.”

Mark got up and put on his shoes, joining Donghyuck outside the tent. He followed Donghyuck past a little group of chairs where some of the younger leaders were chattering—none of them said anything about the two teenagers leaving at that time, Taeyong merely looking on in slight disapproval.

“I can’t sleep because of this wretched dust,” Donghyuck grumbled, kicking at the ground.

Mark hummed in approval. “Me neither.”

“It would make a pretty good pick-up line, though.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Donghyuck’s eyes turned to Mark, glinting and gleeful. “Are you the dust on these roads?”

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think anyone would like being compared to _dust_ —“

“Because you’re making me gasp for breath,” Donghyuck cut Mark off with an exaggerated wink and a smile.

Mark stared for a second, baffled, then burst out laughing. Donghyuck looked at him, obviously pleased with the response he got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We’re departing to the mid-camp ceremony in fifteen minutes,” the oldest of the leaders called out, hands curled around his mouth. “Put on your uniforms, take a hat and a water bottle, and form a line.”

Donghyuck joined Mark in the line. When he saw Mark struggle with the sleeves of his shirt, he swatted the older boy’s hands away and rolled the sleeves up above his elbows for him. Mark looked at the gentle shadows Donghyuck’s eyelashes cast onto his cheekbones, and the golden light on the bridge of his nose.

The light stayed on Donghyuck, turning rosy when the sun lay its head into the earth’s arms, and finally left. The ceremony was long and Mark felt his bottom become numb. Donghyuck pulled Mark’s hand between his own and played with his fingers even when he chatted with his friends from Jeju.

 

 

“Why are you always eating breakfast with us?” Jeno asked Donghyuck the next morning, lifting his gaze from the frying pan.

Donghyuck lifted his palms. “Because you offer me food,” he answered and Jisung chuckled softly next to him.

“You could still go and make breakfast with your own patrol,” Mark remarked. “Aren’t you supposed to be a good cook?”

“Don’t you enjoy my company?” Donghyuck asked in mock hurt, hand over his heart.

Mark sighed and shook his head, but with a small smile. “You love drama, don’t you?”

“You could say I have a knack for it.”

Jaemin laughed, imitating Donghyuck’s expression; Mark could feel Donghyuck’s thigh shifting when he kicked at Jaemin’s shin under the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the day’s program, which was constituted of everyone swimming and having fun in a large pool and Jaehyun, the youngest of the leaders, ambushing Mark on multiple occasions and splashing water into his face, Mark eyed Donghyuck from the corner of his eyes with a teeny tiny ache in his chest.

Wondering if all that was going to fade like smoke in two days, Mark turned away and waded towards Jaehyun to get his revenge.

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey,” Donghyuck breathed out, and instead of waiting for Mark to get up he stepped inside the tent and kicked his shoes off.

“What’s up?” Mark asked, crossing his legs to give the other boy space to sit.

“The sky.”

Donghyuck sat down, accidentally jostling Jisung. Both he and Mark held their breaths when Jisung mumbled something and turned onto his other side, his face to Jeno’s back.

After a moment Mark whispered, “Did he just say something in French?”

Donghyuck laughed, his chuckles only soft blows of air. “He knows French?”

“I don’t think he does.”

Both of them laughed, leaning towards each other a bit, Donghyuck’s hands on Mark’s thigh.

 

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck left for his own tent when no amount of dust could keep Mark away from sleep. Just when he was drifting off he heard Donghyuck tripping on his shoelaces outside the tent.

“You okay?” Mark asked through the tent’s fabric.

“Yeah, yeah.” Mark could hear a bit of laughter in Donghyuck’s voice. “Just sleep.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Aren’t _you_ dressed up tonight,” Donghyuck teased after they fled at the end of the campfire Taeyong had organized to ‘celebrate the second-to-last night’.

Mark straightened his shirt with a grin. “It’s my formal flannel shirt.”

Donghyuck laughed, a bit too loud for that hour of the night, but he didn’t seem to care. “In this weather you look really over-dressed.”

“It gets surprisingly chilly in the night,” Mark answered defensively.

Both teenagers walked on, and Mark felt something quite different in his lungs, in addition to the dust. They reached the end of the campsite, from where they saw the high hills at the camp’s western side.

“The ending ceremony is tomorrow, huh,” Mark said quietly, then added, “or, well, today.”

“It’ll be weird, getting used to going to sleep at reasonable hours again.”

“You said it,” Mark replied. “No dust in our throats.”

“I’ll be sneezing black snot for a week after this,” Donghyuck said, laughing at Mark’s reaction of distaste.

Mark scrunched up his nose. “Dude, that’s disgusting.”

“It’s one of the side effects of a scout camp.”

Donghyuck pointed out constellations, and Mark looked at the stars by the other boy’s fingertips. The moon rolled over the hills, raining its silver light over Donghyuck, who wore his heart on his lips, and Mark, who wore his heart in his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark had to get ready for the camp’s ending ceremony in a hurry, forgetting his water bottle. He ran after the others, who were already marching down the road.

Donghyuck laughed at his dishevelled state. “Your shirt is buttoned wrong.”

Mark looked down and realized that the other boy was right. He undid the buttons, then started again. Donghyuck steered him in the right direction with a hand on his back to keep him from walking into Jeno.

Once seated and waiting for the ceremony to start Jisung tapped at Jaemin’s knee to get his attention. “Look at Mark. He wears his neckerchief like a cub.”

Jeno leaned over Jaemin to see, too, and laughed. Donghyuck joined him. “Why didn’t you fix it before leaving?”

“I was in a bit of a hurry,” Mark answered, leaning away from his friends in an offended manner.

Donghyuck pulled him closer by his neckerchief and helped him roll it properly, then tied it with a friendship knot. He glanced up at Mark, looking proud of himself.

 

 

 

“The stars are nice.”

“Is that _seriously_ all you have to say on our last night here?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three months after the camp, three months after the two boys had bid each other goodbye with a tight hug, Mark received a text from Donghyuck.

‘ _I’m coming to Seoul next Saturday.’_

Mark sat up on his bed, surprised. Almost-forgotten emotions stirred in his chest. ‘ _Do you need a place to stay?’_

_‘I was hoping you would ask that.’_

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck took a ferry and two trains to Seoul.

‘ _I swear if one more kid starts crying in this train I’m going to do something I’ll regret,”_ Donghyuck complained over a text, and Mark laughed softly on his way to meet the other boy at the railway station.

When Donghyuck’s eyes found Mark in the bustle of the station, his stride obtained a sense of urgency; he broke out into the brightest of grins a few metres away from the other teenager, and after the two last steps he threw himself into Mark’s arms.

“I missed you,” Donghyuck mumbled against Mark’s shoulder and Mark coughed, but it wasn’t dust in his lungs.

Donghyuck felt so warm and corporeal and _alive_ it made Mark gasp for breath, as if they were in the shadow of the high hills again, looking more tanned than they actually were because of the coat of dust on their skins, crescents of dirt under their nails. “Me too.”

The pair ran to the bus stop and barely made it on time. Donghyuck and Mark sat side by side, looking at the nightly streets beyond the windows. Donghyuck talked about everything and anything between the sky and the earth and asked how Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung were doing.

A block away from Mark’s place Donghyuck took his hand and smiled. Mark was reminded of the feel of the other boy’s hands on his jaw and cheeks, and Donghyuck’s mouth throbbing as if his heart had really been on his lips (it might have also been Mark’s own heart in his throat—either one.)

Until then Mark had thought they were just summer sweethearts, but when Donghyuck let him relive their clumsy kiss from their last night in the camp he crossed out the ‘summer’-part.


End file.
